We Spend $5,000.00 Per Second In Iraq 24/7

That figure blew my mind. Instantly, I understood one of the reasons we don't have so many social needs in our own country met. It also made me realize the reason we don't do more to change things--this reality is overwhelming. That number is too staggering to comprehend. During the time it's taken me to write thus far, we've spent a million dollars. In the time it takes you to read this paragraph, we've spent $100,000.

Today, I paid a credit card bill. The minimum payment on the account--all I can afford in this economy was $32. The payment was due today and I paid it online. The online robot said that in order for the payment to post today, I would need to pay a $15 rush fee. Now I can buy anything anywhere in the world online and immediately see it debited from my account, but I can't pay $32 from my bank to another bank today without paying a $15 rush fee? I called the bank. The representative assured me I needed to make that $15 rush payment or I risked having a late fee assessed. How much was the late fee? $39. I told her that should be illegal. And it should be. But it shouldn't have to be. It shouldn't have to be because we shouldn't treat each other like that.

I suppose the goal is to take everyone for as much as you can. Here I am a faithful customer of HSBC. Why would they treat me like that? I'm already paying them their outrageous interest, isn't that enough? I imagine the millions of customers they have paying those late fees or rush fees every month. Imagine...$39 each... One million customers. I'm sure they have many more than that, but it's a nice round number. $39,000,000 in one month. For what? For lying about how long it takes a credit to appear in my account. Betsy, who runs an online junk shop from her trailer in Oklalona, Mississippi can get her payment instantly. But HSBC? Two to three days.

$39M a month for lying. $5,000/sec in Iraq--curiously also because of lie.

I understand that the credit card companies have to face some legislation that may be coming forward against them soon. For some reason, I have a feeling that some lawmaker somewhere will want to show them mercy. People are losing their homes--how about we show them some mercy? It's not like there's not enough money to do it.